


On One Hand: Treason

by AotA



Category: Code Geass, Ghost in the Shell (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen, voice actor shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 18:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19773589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AotA/pseuds/AotA
Summary: Cornelia li Britannia is more than just the Second Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire. She remembers... Japan.





	On One Hand: Treason

**Author's Note:**

> I had a moment of surprise when I recently watched an episode of Code Geass in English and went: "Wait one damn second, I _know that voice!_ " Cue evil laugh. I had to wrap my head around Cornelia all over again because hell if I can't ever disassociate that voice with one of my favorite anime _ever_.
> 
> This is just a quick scribble that popped into my head, nothing serious.

When Cornelia li Britannia first steps foot on the island Area 11, she is struck with a strange sense of familiarity. She is here for her brother and sister, hoping against hope that they still live despite the odds of two children surviving this mess. Lelouch and Nunnally, ten and seven years old respectively, with Nunnally being blind and wheelchair bound… it is so unlikely, but Cornelia cannot admit defeat, not after failing to protect their mother.

She searches quietly through the masses and finds the language disquietingly familiar and words that she ought not know line her tongue like they belong there. She is the Second Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire not an Eleven.

Not Japanese.

But it is the strange memories that urge her to keep searching, to uncover the truth of the situation. It is Major Kusanagi Motoko who steps forward and demands the truth with the voice of a Britannian Princess. It is strange to remember a future that _cannot be_. But the Major was not a nationalist or a patriot and neither is Cornelia li Britannia.

It is Major Kusanagi Motoko, with all her knowledge and experience, who finds Lelouch and Nunnally. It is Major Kusanagi Motoko who takes their hiding place and fortifies it. It is Major Kusanagi Motoko, who looks at the wild, enraged, _broken_ light in her little brother's eyes and _knows_ it.

It is Cornelia li Britannia that takes Lelouch's small hand and holds it tight. It is Cornelia li Britannia who tells a little boy who is lost and grieving and traumatized by his own countrymen's actions that he is not alone. It is Cornelia li Britannia who promises the burning flame of hatred inside of that tiny body justice.

It doesn't fix things.

It doesn't _change_ anything.

Cornelia li Britannia is still Second Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire and even so, there is precious little that she can do, but Kusanagi Motoko, even out of body, place, and time has _options_.

It is to the Japanese she extends her hand and to Lelouch she gives the tools to control and stabilize those parts of himself that Britannia broke. It is treason for part of her, even out of the love of her siblings, but for the other… it is little more than a days work. If she can save her sibling by giving him everything he needs to destroy that which harmed him in a controlled manner then she will not shed a tear if he tears down the world that is so wrong.

Cornelia li Britannia is no patriot, but for her the love of family is close enough.

When Zero rises, claiming to be a knight of justice with the full force of Japan behind him, Cornelia visits Area 11 for a time to mock Clovis's lacking military capabilities and swings by Ashford Academy, supposedly to check its suitability for Euphemia's education. She kisses Nunnally's forehead and drags Lelouch into a headlock and noogies him for all he's worth. He's still a wimp even after these years so he doesn't get to escape her until she is good and ready to release him. She asks him about his schooling while his hair is a bird's nest and congratulates him on his plans for the future. He certainly aims high, her little brother. If he needs her, she reminds him, he can count on her. For anything.

He is wary, of course, but he thanks her regardless.

She wishes him good luck and departs Japan once more.

When Clovis is captured by Zero's Black Knights and the Emperor repudiates the "weakling" for getting kidnapped by "rank terrorists". Cornelia is sent to Japan to "bring order to the rabble".

Cornelia goes.

She heads for Ashford, sits at Lelouch's table, and smiles at him. "How is Clovis doing? Not being too much of an annoyance is he?" she asks.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Lelouch says convincingly, the liar.

"Of course not," she says, patting him on the head.

"Cornelia," he complains.

"Ambitious little brothers do not get to complain about their older sisters caring for them," she admonishes, then asks, "Do you think Zero would be willing to work with the new Viceroy?"

He looks at her considering, "That would depend on the Viceroy."

"Her name is Cornelia li Britannia," she says.

"Ah."

"Indeed."

"I think he probably would," Lelouch says softly.

"That is good to hear. Those who fight for justice are too rare a breed to pit against each other," Cornelia says. That puts a light in his eyes and an enigmatic smile on his lips that Cornelia matches.

With Zero's charisma, tactical and strategic abilities as well as his army of Black Knights matched with Cornelia's experience, loyal followers of her own, and technological advantages, they have the ability to make an opportunity for the change Cornelia so desires, to make a kinder, gentler world.


End file.
